Pedestrian-level Wind Comfort and Safety
The development of a new building or a master plan usually modifies the local microclimate conditions. In return, this can affect the overall safety and perception of comfort by pedestrians and occupants, and thus jeopardizing the success of the project.
This is why, local building authorities usually require a preliminary assessment of the outdoor microclimate to demonstrate that the safety and comfort of pedestrians are acceptable prior to granting construction permits for high rise buildings.
Our Approach:
Our team of expert has developed a collaborative approach in order to identify and mitigate adverse microclimate effects. It consists of a numerical assessment: the Pedestrian wind comfort and safety (or wind environment) study.
Based on comfort criteria, local wind climate, and aerodynamic parameters, the Pedestrian-level wind comfort and safety studies advise on the local wind speeds in terms of comfort and safety at key outdoor occupied areas (e.g. building entrances, roof terraces, balconies, outdoor recreational areas, etc.).
If some areas experience unacceptable wind conditions for pedestrian or occupants use, supplementary studies develop and validate wind mitigation measures (e.g. soft landscape, canopies, taller balustrades, wind screens etc.) in order to support the adjustment of the proposed building design.
It shall noted that Outdoor thermal comfort studies usually complement pedestrian comfort studies. Based on CFD simulations software, they will specifically advise on the contribution of heat to the overall outdoor pedestrian comfort.The combination of the results of both the above studies will help architects and designers to devise thermal mitigation strategies (e.g. in a shaded area, people tend to be more sensitive to wind; while in plain sunshine, a breeze is actually felt to be positive).
Advantages:
By investigating microclimate conditions early in the design process of a high-rise building or a masterplan development, the use of numerical simulation allows to identify key areas where mitigations are required. It results with an improved design for a marginal cost compared to retrofitting after construction.
For the vast majority of building projects, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) will help designers to have an acute understanding of the wind conditions at an unlimited number of locations in the vicinity of the building. Compare to physical wind tunnel testing, CFD enables a detailed, quicker, and affordable evaluation & validation of different potential mitigation schemes.
Last, by modifying the outdoor comfort and outdoor activities schedules, the CFD based microclimate studies will help creating a better perception of the recreational and commercial outdoor areas and thus increase the overall value of a development.
